The Lion Women of Tehran

De: Marjan Kamali

Narrado por: Mozhan Navabi, Nikki Massoud

A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK

'As heart-wrenching as it is achingly beautiful' Sadeqa Johnson, author of The House of Eve

'Heartbreaking and life affirming' Adrienne Brodeur, author of Little Monsters

'Courage, friendship, loyalty, hardship, love – this novel has everything' Mary Beth Keane, Ask Again, Yes

From the author of The Stationery Shop of Tehran, a heartfelt, epic new novel of friendship, betrayal and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran.

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming 'lion women.'

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.

©2024 Marjan Kamali (P)2024 Simon & Schuster UK

Reseñas de la Crítica

‘A must-read for every book club. Deeply emotional, insightful, and engrossing. You won’t forget these women for a very long time. I loved it’ Susan Elizabeth Phillips, New York Times bestselling author

‘With this masterful, heart-centred novel, Marjan Kamali has crafted a deeply honest look at the true meaning of friendship. Through Homa and Ellie we see the nuances of a perfectly imperfect love that withstands class differences, personal trauma, jealousy, war, and revolution. Their souls are forever intertwined and as a reader it is an honour to bear witness. This book made me incredibly proud to be an Iranian woman – a Lion Woman too’ Shideh Etaat, author of Rana Joon and the One and Only Now